"Man, it was a terrible day. I remember waking up, looking outside, and seeing grayness all across the sky. It didn't help my mood at all, seeing that I was to take a test in less than an hour. I did my usual morning routine: took a shower, brushed my teeth, quickly made my bed, and said 'bye' to my mom as I headed out of the house. Before I got on my bike, my mom called me back, and threw me a poncho. 'It's going to rain,' she said. Gloomily, I said 'thanks', put the poncho on, and went off north, down the road. As I was pedaling, I went through notes in my head, humming the familiar tune from my memory, 'Electrode, Diglett, Nidoran, Mankey, Venusaur, Rattata, Fearow...'.

"Normally, the ride to my school wasn't that bad. It was level most of the way, so it wasn't a strain despite the distance. There was one part of the route that didn't stay level though. About three quarters of the way there, the path dipped into a small valley. There, nothing poses much of a problem on a clear day, but that day it started raining hard and a dense, lightless fog kept me from seeing anything but the path, if even that. I was very familiar with the road though, so I continued to pedal at a fast pace. That is, until I hit something.

"At that time, I wasn't quite sure what happened. It just felt like a bump and I wasn't paying attention to see what was on the road. I could've just gone on speeding towards school, but something told be to go back. It was a good thing I did.

"I got off my bike, turned around, and headed back into the fog, looking carefully for what I had hit. When what I hit came into view, I immediately felt the pang of guilt. Lying in the road, it was about three feet long, purple, barely-moving, and had a tire-sized impression near the gold ring on its neck. I had hit a young Ekans.

"Not thinking at first, I reached down to pick him up. Scared and injured, he struck at me, biting me below my right wrist. The bite burned menacingly, but I just cringed and took the pain as best I could. Trying not to frighten it further, I spoke to him. 'I'm here to help you little guy. I won't hurt you. I just need to get you to a Pokemon Center," I said. I believe he understood me, because as I reached out for him a second time, he let me pick him up without struggle. I carefully used my left hand to cradle the injury on his neck as I lifted him onto my shoulders. 'Okay little guy, what I need you to do is to keep your neck and head on my back pack, wrap the rest of you around my neck, and hold tightly.' He did exactly that (even making sure not to hold on too tightly), so I got back on my bike and rode as fast as I could towards Azalea Town.

Making it out of the valley, everything seemed to be going well. Ekans was holding on fine and I was keeping a good pace. Then, about a mile away from town, my right hand went numb. At first, I couldn't feel the handle, but shortly after that, I couldn't even move my wrist and fingers. I tried not to panic, but I knew then that it wasn't just Ekans' life that might be in danger. I kept riding fast and I started to feel more side-effects along the way. Luckily, my balance was still intact, but my vision was starting to get blurry and it was getting harder to concentrate. Once I came into town, I read a nearby sign pointing to the various places in Azalea Town. I couldn't read the distances because of my blurred eyes, but I could make out the arrows pointing to the hospital and Pokemon Center. Unfortuately, they were pointing in almost completely different directions, being towards the north-west and north-east respectively. I was about to head towards the hospital when I felt Ekans grip suddenly fail. I reached around to catch him, but luckily he had found the strength to catch himself at the last second. I helped him get back into a more comfortable position and rethought of how I was going to transport him in his condition. Unable to think of a solution, I asked, 'Little guy, I know you're hurt, but could you hang on for just a bit longer?' Surprisingly, he managed to wrap strongly around my neck, though I could feel his body quiver in pain as he did so. Moved by Ekans effort, I headed towards the Pokemon Center. I was so determined at that point that besides the fact that I couldn't move my right hand, I rode on as if I was never poisoned, peddling to a newly-found, quicker pace.

As I sped along the streets of Azalea Town, I kept close attention to the strength of Ekans grip. Knowing it could give out any minute, my adrenaline pushed me faster and faster. Hope began to well inside me as I saw the Pokemon Center come out from the horizon. Carefully, I brought my bike to a stop in front of the building, got off, and removed Ekans from my neck. When I looked at Ekans, I panicked; he wasn't breathing. Cradling his neck and brought to tears by the situation, I sprinted up the steps and through the sliding glass doors of the center. As I rushed to the front counter, Nurse Joy noticed the urgency and already had a stretcher on the move. Two Chanseys came out with it and I placed Ekans on it as soft as I could. As Ekans was carried off, Nurse Joy came over to comfort me. All I could do was stand in the middle of the room and think about whether Ekans would make it, and grieve over the thought that I might have killed him. After rubbing my back for a few seconds, she took some tissues from her pocket and started wiping the tears from my eyes. When she took a good look at my eyes though, a look of concern quickly came to her face. She grabbed my arm and noticing the Ekans bite called out to her assistants, 'Get an ambulence!!!'. After that, I can't remember what happened, since I lost consciousness."

After telling that story, I couldn't help but smile. I glanced over at Arbok and could see that he was smiling too.

"As you can see, everything came to a great ending, no explanation needed," I finished.

Koga, gym leader of the Fushsia City Gym, stood up from the dojo floor and started to clap. The rest of his students followed, giving me a full applause. After the applause died down, Koga spoke.

"Withough a doubt in my mind, you care about this Pokemon more than any trainer I have ever known. I can also safely guess that you treat your other Pokemon with equal care and respect, which they deserve. And, because you have fairly and skillfully defeated my top student in battle, I hereby offer you the position of becoming my new top student. With this position, you may take my place when I am absent and offer the Soul Badge if and only if you are defeated by another trainer. Do you accept?"

Pleased at the offer, I turned to Arbok. "You up for it, Little Guy?" I asked laughing, knowing he has grown much since I first called him that name. Arbok nodded. I turned back to Koga and said, "I accept."

I stood up and Koga held out his right hand to shake mine. Politely, I made the same gesture, but with my left hand. Koga realized why and switched hands. After we shook hands, I asked if I could step outside for a moment. Once outside the dojo, I stood on the porch and gazed out at the night sky. I looked at the nub on my right arm, looked at the scar-like impression on Arbok's neck and said to myself, "It was worth it."